Moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; pulling out of the Iran agreement; defunding UNRWA, and closing the PLO mission in D.C.: every Trump administration move satisfies the objectives of the Israeli government while not benefiting the United States in the least.

It is puzzling that the state of Israel claims its own legitimacy derives from the right of Jewish people to “return” to their biblical homeland after 2,000 years of exile — but demands that Palestinian refugees drop their claim to return after 70 years and forget their homeland.

In an attempt to pressure the Palestinian people to accept his “deal of the century,” Trump decided to drastically cut the annual U.S. contribution to UNRWA from about $350 million to $65 million and pressured other countries, including Britain and Australia, to reduce their contributions as well.

UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees, was established in December 1949 by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 to address the basic humanitarian needs of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who became refugees in the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948.
As its name reveals, UNRWA’s mission was

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Hisham H. Ahmed, Ph.D

Hisham H. Ahmed, Ph.D. was Chair of the Academic Senate and Chair of the
Politics Department at Saint Mary’s College of California, he was a Fulbright
scholar in Palestine, where he wrote his book: From Religious Salvation to political transformation: the rise of Hamas in Palestinian Society. Ahmed is the author of numerous studies dealing with the Middle East. Ahmed is frequently called upon by the local and international media for analyses of various political issues pertaining to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The Israeli government is planning a series of measures aimed at fully denying Palestinians their legal rights in Jerusalem and precluding any future peace settlement based on sharing the city between Israel and a future Palestinian state.
One of the most aggressive measures to date is a

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Ramzy Baroud

Ramzy Baroud is a journalist, author and editor of Palestine Chronicle. His latest book is The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story (Pluto Press, London, 2018). Baroud has a Ph.D. in Palestine Studies from the University of Exeter and is a Non-Resident Scholar at Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California Santa Barbara. His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.

U.S. is UNRWA’s leading funder, providing more than $300m per year. It’s unclear whether Haley’s statement applies to all U.S. aid, though her comments will be perceived as an attempt to coerce Palestinians into peace talks.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that Trump administration wants to stop funding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, the agency tasked with assisting Palestinian refugees, until they "return to the negotiating table" with Israel.
It was not immediately clear from Haley's comments if she was referring only

Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, centre, talks during a press conference at fishermen's port in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Monday, June 1, 2015. Steinmeier paid a rare visit to the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip on Monday, calling on Israel to ease a blockade on the territory and urging Hamas prevent rockets from being fired into